An Aunt and Uncle from Virginia have opened up their hearts and home to their 7-month-old nephew, who was hospitalized due to abuse at the hands of his parents.

In early November, Michelle Harris Templeton received a call from her mother informing her that her nephew had stopped breathing and had been airlifted to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. The infant is the son of Michelle’s estranged brother, and further investigation by Michelle revealed the boy had been flagged by doctors in October as a possible abuse victim.

Reports filed by the doctors who initially examined the child said his injuries were too severe to be consistent with the claims by the boy’s father that he had fallen off a couch. On the contrary, the then 6-month-old showed signs of systemic abuse resulting in symptoms of severe damage to the brain.

When the full details of her nephew’s injuries were revealed, Templeton and her husband, Nathan, didn’t hesitate to request guardianship of the little boy. They were successful in convincing the boy’s parents—both arrested in connection to the baby’s abuse—to grant Michelle physical custody of her nephew, lovingly renamed “Carter” by his new guardians. “I decided he was now mine and I’d do anything and everything to protect him”, she said in a December 6th facebook post.

In addition to his brain injury, the 7-month-old required casts on both legs due to fractures, and his doctors soon discovered he had lost his eyesight as the result of a retinal hemorrhage in his right eye. Carter spent several weeks in the ICU, attached to a ventilator as well as an EEG machine that monitored the seizures he suffered from his brain injury.

As baby Carter healed in the ICU, Michelle made multiple trips to Pittsburgh to be with her nephew and work with the courts in order to keep Carter from being placed in foster care. At the beginning of December, after over 1,000 miles on the road to and from Pittsburgh, Michelle was finally able to bring Carter home to Fredericksburg, Virginia.

What makes this story even more special is the fact that at just three days old, Michelle herself was adopted by her own aunt. Templeton has since reconciled with her biological mother, but at birth her mother was already struggling to provide for Michelle’s three older siblings and was not able to properly care for a fourth child. “My aunt gave me the absolute best life, and I know that by doing this, I’m going to make sure that Carter does as well,” Michelle says.

Carter is continuing to recover from his injuries at home, and enjoying the constant attention from his new sisters, Nathan and Michelle’s 7 and 9 year old daughters. He has shed is leg casts but still has not regained his vision, and he also must be attached to a gastronomy bag as well as take daily medication to help manage his seizures.

In a post made on her facebook page, Michelle states “He’s ours now and we vow to love him unconditionally and eternally.” Speaking to People, Michelle shares “There’s definitely a chance he will be able to see,” she explains. “But we don’t know what’s going to lie ahead for him… Whatever struggles we may face, we’re going to get through them.”

A Target baby registry has been created by Nathan and Michelle and can be accessed here.